While the use of metal (steel) studs for framing in residential construction has continued to grow, its use in commercial and industrial buildings has been prevalent for decades. Such use is shown in the prior art by, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 963,938 to Phillips for “Metallic Stud or Furring Strip”; U.S. Pat. No. 2,177,277 to Burke for a “Metal Stud”; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,345 to Leifer for “Track for Steel Stud Partitions.”
Steel stud framing offers many advantages over conventional wood framing, such as: ease of installation due to accurate pre-cutting by the manufacturer, which eliminates sawing and waste at the job site; resistance to termites, mold, fungus, and fire; resilience with age unlike a wood structure, which may be susceptible to rot, particularly in moist climates, thus steel framing has a longer life span; and steel stud construction may also have less of an impact on the environment, with respect to deforestation, because while its production may be energy-intensive, much of the building components for such construction make use of recycled steel. Steel is the most recycled material in the United States, with an estimated 50-55 million tons of steel being recycled in 2015 alone.
As a result of such benefits from the use of steel instead of timber for framing, many advantageous techniques and short-cuts have been devised, and appear in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,803 to Wright teaches a “Method and Means for Reinforcing a Steel Stud Wall.”
However, a problem nonetheless persists with the progression of steel stud construction occurring in a timely manner, with respect to completing installation of a door header and the duct work above it, as well as electrical, sheet rock, and moldings that follow installation of the hollow metal door frame. It is a frequent occurrence in building construction to experience late delivery of the hollow metal door frames, and it often has a significant impact on a contractor's ability to meet scheduled completion dates. The present invention is directed to a novel header configuration and a method of wall construction that circumvents the delays caused by the late delivery of hollow metal door frames. The novel header disclosed herein may also be utilized to accommodate framing of a wall in the corner of a room, adjacent to an intersecting wall, for close placement of the new wall to the corner, and thus may provide dual functionality.